Jim O'Neill, the chairman of Goldman Sachs
Asset Management, said the chancellor's continued pursuit of austerity
despite signs that the economy was stagnating, including worse-than-expected GDP figures, risked a lost decade for the British economy with low growth and increasing public debt.

Figures
unveiled on Friday showed that the British economy shrank in the last
quarter of 2012. If the economy shrinks again in the first quarter of
2012, Britain will be in recession for the third time since the economic
crash of 2008.